Use of psychoactive substances and their harms and benefits as perceived by undergraduate medical students in Brazil

ABSTRACT

Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of use of psychoactive agents among medical students attending Federal Higher Education Institutes in Brazil and to identify the licit and illicit drugs most often employed. Methods: The cross-sectional study involved ten medical schools located in a Brazilian state. Students were asked to complete a online questionnaire. Differences between the proportions of users and non-users of licit and illicit agents were compared using χ² test and multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results: 647 students completed the survey satisfactorily. 70% (n = 452) of respondents consumed at least one psychoactive substance. Alcohol was the substance most frequently consumed followed by tobacco and cannabis. Most respondents who had used antidepressants and benzodiazepines reported that the drugs were informally indicated by health professionals. The use of licit substances was associated with no practising religion, high income and living with friends. The use of illicit substances was related to age (23–27 years), gender (male) and no practising religion. Conclusion: Our study draws attention to the importance of promoting responsibility and self-criticism during medical education in order to avoid students developing a feeling of dominance regarding alcohol or drug consumption that may deteriorate into addiction or even recklessness regarding their future prescribing practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Psychoactive substances
• medical students
• medicalization
• use
• misuse

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) and to “Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico” (CNPq) for the financial support for conducting the research.

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.